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<title>Adastra: Roma Caput Mundi (The trails of Rome) by Gramarg</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29475180">Adastra: Roma Caput Mundi (The trails of Rome)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gramarg/pseuds/Gramarg'>Gramarg</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Adastra (Visual Novel)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Crime, Gen, Investigations, Mystery, Paranormal</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 22:01:52</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,622</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29475180</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gramarg/pseuds/Gramarg</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Many years have passed since the events of Adastra and the first contact with the Galaxia. Roma has become a new city, a melting pot of Siblings. But now the city is facing great turmoils and its safety is in the hands of the people who have sworn to protect it and its inhabitant.<br/>This is the story of those people and the trials that they will face in order to maintain peace.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Adastra: Roma Caput Mundi (The trails of Rome)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The fire illuminated the dark tunnel. The roaring flames had enveloped any possible surface. Anyone would have already left the place, but he was standing there, completely unable to move. He didn’t feel the scorching heat, the flames didn’t seem capable of touching him, and yet his gaze was one of terror. His irises were immobile, looking at his feet where someone was laying.</p><p> </p><p>‘’C- are’’ the voice felt very distant, yet it was coming right from that wolf lying on the ground in front of him. As he lowered his gaze, he saw him.</p><p> </p><p>The wolf was lying at his feet, his body bent backwards like a broken stick, a pair of the empty eyes wide open piercing at his very soul, mouth opening and closing, emitting a voice that didn’t match the large figure. It sounded worried</p><p> </p><p>‘’Cesare’’ said once again, this time clearer, louder, feminine and yet deeper and masculine. It wasn’t his voice, and yet it was.</p><p> </p><p>He was shaking, every immobile part of his body was begging to be moved, answering to a fight or flight instinct. His mouth didn’t allow him to scream. His eyes were fixated on it, in tear, begging to be freed and let be closed.</p><p> </p><p>‘’<strong>CESARE!!</strong>’’</p><p> </p><p>AH!! Claudius!! What?! ACK!’’ The human woke up from his tormented slumber eyes opening to stare around in search of the voice, all interrupted by a sudden jolt of pain in his left arm which was enveloped in a cast.</p><p> </p><p>In front of him there was an Omorfan, she was wearing a dark blue jacket that created a distinction with her black fur, the most notable trait was a line of white fur that started from the tail of her right eye and ran down her cheek like a tear</p><p> </p><p>The two were standing in a long corridor, people were walking around not caring about them. Most of them were humans but here and there an animal head popped out. Sometimes a wolf, sometimes a jackal, hell even a ram.</p><p>That was the Department of Order Among Siblings. The main organ for the security of Roma and specifically for helping in the solutions of conflicts among the various races that had started living there in the years after the contact</p><p> </p><p>‘’Cesare, what are you doing here?’’ Asked her in a worried but scolding tone</p><p> </p><p>‘’Oh Ana’’. Said him waving his hand, she could see how it was still trembling ‘’Resting a bit’’</p><p> </p><p>‘’You look like garbage. Weren’t you supposed to come back from you leave next week?’’</p><p> </p><p>‘’Between the hospital room and my house, I was getting insane. I wanted to see the place again before coming back. It’s been almost six months after all. Also, it’s obvious that I am here for a quick briefing ‘’ declared him as he stood up.</p><p> </p><p>‘’You know very well how’s going. Five others bomb attacks, still no evidence nor a trace of a suspect and seventy percent of the public transport in Roma has stopped due to terror. I still don’t know if I should consider you lucky for being the only survivor of one of them or for simply having avoided any pressure from the press.</p><p> </p><p>‘’Call it luck to have most of your bones broken and the one in your arm a basically turned into dust.’’ Replied him in a snarky tone, caressing his cast.</p><p> </p><p>‘’And yet you are here. Isn’t Parent tec wonderful? Thirty years ago, you still would have been in a hospital, or maybe even dead’’ Said her shrugging with a hint of mockery in her tone</p><p> </p><p>‘’Glad to see your optimism is still going strong’’ said him a bit irritated</p><p> </p><p>They both seemed to be at the point of starting to insult each other. But in that moment the cat gave him a light punch on his arm to which he replied with the same gesture. They both started smiling.</p><p> </p><p>‘’I am glad you’re still here’’ said her in a friendly tone</p><p> </p><p>But to that his colleague smiled turned serious, in an instant that friendly face was gone.</p><p> </p><p>‘’I need to show you something. In private.’’ The last part escaped from his mouth in a whisper</p><p> </p><p>She looked a bit surprised at his request, but it was clear that is premature visit had an ulterior motive.</p><p>She chose to go to a less crowded floor of the department where no one would have bothered them.</p><p>It was one of the highest points in the building, pretty close to the roof. No one would have come there since it was the middle of the winter and there was no heater.</p><p>Stair after stair, with the sound of other people getting further and further they finally reached the spot. Once there she gestured her colleague to tell her the reason for such demand.</p><p> </p><p>He handed her a tablet which screen was already turned on and with something open.</p><p> </p><p>It was the image of a painting, it seemed to portray an epical scenario, some type of giant snake had been beheaded on the ground. Various bodies were lying around over the scene. The curious detail was the fact that some of those were not human, only two were in fact humans, along them a huge wolf and a jackal had apparently joined the ranks. Their body were bended in the weirdest positions and many bruises and injuries were adorning them, it was clear that there was no life in them. But among those corpses a figure was standing out, he was there on his feet, his upper body covered in scars tinted in blood. His head was looking down, only a small part of his face’s profile looked visible and yet this was enough to determine some of his traits with a closer look</p><p> </p><p>‘’Nice painting, a bit morbid for my taste. What exactly am I looking at?’’ at this point she was genuinely curious of all this</p><p> </p><p>‘’Bottom right corner ‘’pointed him with the finger</p><p> </p><p>She touched the screen a couple of times to zoom, two golden sign were in that corner, one looked impossible to be translated by the Lingua, probably the sign of the person behind it, the other was a series of number divided by lines</p><p> </p><p>‘’It’s a date. It still doesn’t answer the question’’</p><p> </p><p>‘’It’s a week before the accident that I have survived’’</p><p> </p><p>She immediately put her paw in front of him to stop whatever was about to come out of his mouth</p><p> </p><p>‘’I’m gonna stop you here. There is no way that what you are implying is true. The parents don’t work like that. How can you even think something so unreal?’’ She immediately turned the device off and gave it back to him</p><p> </p><p>‘’It’s a prediction. And you know why? Just, look at the central figure’’ he turned it on again. This time with a bit of struggle due to the cast. After one or two touches, he handed it out to his colleague again.</p><p> </p><p>She huffed and went back at looking at the picture. A few seconds passed before her eyes started to widen, the pupils getting smaller by the second while her mouth was opening wider and wider. The shock of the realization slowly starting to build up in her mind to explode like volcano</p><p> </p><p>‘’Cesare, that’s you. Or at least it looks like you. Even the scars’’</p><p> </p><p>‘’Exactly. But you want to know the oddest thing. Look at the other people in the painting and then look here.’’</p><p> </p><p> With that he scrolled to another image, a collage of various photos of different individuals: two human girls, a jackal and a wolf were on it, the same individuals currently present in the painting; the more she compared the two the more similarities were present. The long red ponytail of one of the two humans, the fur pattern on the huge wolf and most importantly the fact that the jackal was missing a leg. All those details matched with each other.</p><p> </p><p>‘’This is insane. If it’s true we must tell the chief about this.’’ She turned her back on him to instantly feel his colleague free hand holding her shoulder tightly</p><p> </p><p>‘’It would take too much time. The more we wait the higher the chances of another attack. The sooner we get how these are made the better. We might even find the people behind this’’</p><p> </p><p>‘’I not going to risk my position for what is something so absurd. Look I might believe this whole magical painting prediction but-’’ she was suddenly interrupted by an even tighter grip.</p><p> </p><p>‘’Please Ana. You are going to waste time. We are going to waste time. I have a bad feeling about this, we need to act quickly.’’</p><p> </p><p>He looked at her. His eyes were saying it all. It was understandable. He was a survivor, but most importantly he was, like her, someone that had been entrusted with the security of the city of Roma. Something that they had been struggling a lot in the past months.</p><p> </p><p>She huffed, after six months, this was probably the best thing they ever had.</p><p> </p><p>‘’I suppose you already know where to find this painter?’’ she asked, her eyes diverting from him</p><p> </p><p>At hearing this a smile light up on his face. His eyes gleaming at his colleague while all she could do was to roll them. He started to go down the stairs right before turning to her one last time.</p><p> </p><p>‘’Follow me, you will be surprised of how close the two were. Now let’s go. We have a bus to catch’’ and with that he bolted for the stairs like his life was depending on it</p><p> </p><p>‘’I really hope your gut feeling is right’’ mumbled her and with that she started following him</p>
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